December 13, 2004

Netherlands Sees Rise in Size of National Pig Herd

The Dutch national pig herd comprised 11.3 million animals in August 2004, an increase of 0.4 million (3.6%) compared with August 2003. Dutch pig meat production has also risen in 2004. Up to the end of week 44, Dutch slaughterhouses slaughtered 12.1 million pigs, a 3.4% rise compared with the same period the previous year. Experts anticipate that the increase in pig meat production will continue in the fourth quarter of 2004 and in the first six months of 2005.

Over the past few years the Dutch pig meat industry has invested a great deal in quality. The quality assurance system Integrated Chain Control (known as IKB in Dutch) was introduced in 1992 and over a period of ten years has developed into one of Europe's leading quality systems for pig meat production.

In order to implement improvements in quality management and animal welfare as well as to control the adverse effects of pig farming on the environment, the Dutch national pig herd was reduced in size by 24% over five years.

This downward trend has not continued in 2004. Due to increased productivity in sow farming and lower exports of piglets, more pigs could be fattened in the Netherlands. This even led to an increase in the size of the national pig herd.

Since exports of fattening pigs are expected to fall by a few percent in 2004, pig meat production will rise slightly to approximately 1.3 million tons (2003: 1.25 million tons). Estimates based on export surveys indicate that the main export markets are the UK (29%, mainly in the form of bacon), Germany (20%), Italy (17%) and Greece (10%).